The Blonde in the Middle
by ThePerksOfBlueFood
Summary: An AU Story where Lilly Kane was never found dead next to her pool because, well, she never died. Veronica Mars, Sheriff's daughter, secret detective, and designated 09er. Can she juggle her life of secrets and drama? Full summary inside. T for references and usage of cuss words.


**Summery: An AU Story where Lilly Kane was never found dead next to her pool because, well, she never died. Starting after the Pep Squad Car Wash Veronica Mars' Sophomore Year, Veronica Mars faces many challenges and issues that she otherwise would never have come across. Can she juggle the life of being the Sheriff's daughter, a designated 09er, and acting as an amateur detective who likes to play with her father's discarded toys? **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Veronica Mars is not nor will it ever be in my posession. The characters, plots, quotes, and whatever else comes up belongs for the amazing Rob Thomas. I also don't own any referanced material in this fanfiction.**

**NOTE: OMG THE VERONICA MARS MOVIE WAS FREAKING FLAWLESS! Sorry, I just had to say it. Other Notes: No, I am not going to reveal anywhere who Veronica ends up with, nor who I prefer her with because that would totally ruin the story for ye who readith my fanfiction. **

**ANOTHER NOTE: It's going to be modernized because in 2004 I was 5, so I really don't remember what was happening back then besides the delightable Disney, Barbie, and Barney the dinosaur. So, this story will definitely involve things more modern than mix CDs, Vanilla Ice, and big ass computers.**

Chapter One - Dinner with the Fam

"Is that lasagnia I smell?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen of the two story 90908 zip code house. Yeah, only an inch from being an official 09er. Many people, especially my best friend's on and off boyfriend Logan Echollas, tease me constantly about it.

Lianne Mars' smile caused the replication of one on my own face. "You know, I could use some help my darling," my mother said, offering me a cooking spoon. I nodded, taking it from her hand. Mrs. Mars, who loved to play music that fit whatever 'mood aura' wafted from the food she was cooking, had her iPod plugged into the kitchen stereo.

"And how does a depressed and self-loathing Taylor Swift fit my favorite food?" I asked her, a strand of my long blonde hair falling in my face as I stirred the meat sauce.

My mother laughed, using her pinky finger to move the loose strand behind my ear. "Just look at it. The angry red sauce, the solumn cheese and pasta. And the salad that goes with it? How else do we get it but to beat the life out of it?"

Laughing, I leaned over the stove and turned up Taylor's wailing voice as she 'swifted' another player in her life. I softly started to sing along. "He was long gone, when he met me, and I realized, the joke was on me, hey! I knew you were trouble when you walked in..." My mother joined in, dancing a little as she pounded the green leaves of the fresh salad in beat to the music. I smiled, finishing with the saucy meat sauce. "It's all yours," I told her, handing her the pot of boiling meat. She smiled, mixing it in with the noodles.

A minute later, there was a knock at the door, and I turned off the stove top I'd been using before heading to the door. I looked through the peep hole and who I saw standing on the welcome mat caused my smile to turn upside down. I made sure I was out of my mother's sight before opening the door.

"Duncan," I said softly, looking up at my ex-boyfriend. His hands were in his pockets, his expression lined with seriousness. "Veronica...can I talk to you a minute?" I nodded, looking back towards the kitchen. "Mom, I'll be outside a minute," I called to her.

"Okay honey," she called back. I looked at Duncan, gesturing for him to step back as I shut the door. I looked up at him, crossing my arms over my chest. Duncan looked at the ground. I tapped my foot lightly on the wood that marked my front porch.

"Well?" I asked, looking at him crossly. "What do you want?" It came out harsher than I had intended.

He flinched, looking up from the white painted wood. He took a deep breath, and opened his mouth. "I think...I think Lilly is seeing someone. Someone other than Logan."

Scoffing, my lips curved upward. "Duncan, Lilly is always seeing someone else," I informed him, to which he nodded.

"Yeah, I know Veronica. It's just...this time it's different. Has she said anything to you? Something about a new guy who was possibly, you know, older?" I could tell how uncomfortable he was asking me this, especially with the tension of our so-called 'break-up' a couple of weeks ago.

My eyebrows furrowed together, my memory flashing to earlier that week...

_"Lilly I see the prozack's working." I'd told my best friend as I leaned over the car we were washing. Lilly had grinned, starting on the driver's side window. _

_"High on life, Veronica Mars," she'd informed me, making my lips turn upright into a smile. She leaned towards me. "I've got a secret, a good one." She waggled her eyebrows at me. _

_"Girls," our coach had called to us. _

_Lilly had winked at me. "Later," she said, slapping me with her dirty rag. I'd laughed, knocking it away from me. _

"Veronica...Veronica?" Duncan's voice snapped me out of my dream-like state. I looked up at him, biting my lip.

"Uh, nope, can't say she did," I said, looking anywhere but his eyes. I could feel his eyes on me, forcing me to glance up at him. I wish I hadn't. Duncan's piercing gaze made my knees, as usual, very weak.

"Come on Veronica...I know you know something."

I threw my hands up in the air. "Look, she's your sister, why don't _you_ ask her if something's going on?" When he didn't answer, I looked back at my house. "Look are we done here? I've got dinner to eat." My voice was sharp.

Duncan nodded, looking away from me again. "That's it. Thanks for the, you know, not helping." Leaving with the cold edge in the air, he turned on his heels and started towards his car. I sighed, leaning against the burgandy colored bricks with my head in my hands. I hadn't meant to be harsh, but what else could I do? He was a bitch first.

A minute later, I heard his car leave. I turned back to the door, opening it and heading back into the kitchen. "Finished yet Mom?" I asked her, fixing my expression to be filled with it's usual smile of joy. Yeah it was fake, but what can you do? My parents liked to ask questions, especially with Dad being the sheriff and all. And I wasn't one who liked to pour out my feelings, especially to the overprotective father who had a large gun collection and an entire police squad within arms reach.

My mother nodded. "You know it honey. Do me a favor and go get your dad. It is time for us to feast!" She placed the lasagnia and salad neatly on the decorated table, the spoons, forks, and knives evenly placed from each other, perfectly straight.

Sometimes I really loved my mom. Well, obviously I loved her, but sometimes I really love her. Even though we didn't belong to the "upper upper class", she liked to pretend we did. You know, making sure everything was clean, buying the expensive looking things on sale, getting classy whenever possible; sometimes, I wondered if she used to be one of them.

Shaking my head, I walked to the back of our house where my father's office was located. I could hear his low voice as I walked to the open glass door. I stood in the doorway, watching him as he sat in his leather chair behind the smooth oakwood desk. His phone was glued to his ear, and he seemed to be taking note of something the person on the other line was saying. He noticed me standing in the doorway and after bidding goodbye with the person on the other line, he placed the phone gingerly on the dock and turned to me. "Hey honey what's up?" he asked me, his charming smile making my mood just a little bit better.

"Dinner's on the table, wafting it's wonderful scent all over the dinning room," I informed him chirpily. He nodded, closing his computer.

"I'll be right there. Make sure Mom has the dressing set out. Papa loves his dressing." I nodded, my smile still frozen on my face as I skipped into the dinning room. Mom was already sitting at her designated place at the table. She had put up her hair in the last five minutes, her bun knotted at the nape of her neck, some strands falling in her face.

My mother is one of the most beautiful women I know. Many of my friends (guys of course)constantly tell me how hot she is. Looking at her from a distance, you wouldn't know she had an alchohal problem.

She didn't think I knew. Of course I knew. I more often than not found her slumped unconscious on the couch. I'd get her to her room before Dad came home from work of course, after dumping the contents of whatever her medicine was that night down the kitchen sink and hiding the bottle at the bottom of the recycling.

Now don't get met wrong. I don't doubt that Dad knows. It's his job to know. To know what lurked in the street corners of the town. In the shadows. In the sun. And, most of all, in his own home.

But better safe then sorry. If he didn't know, he didn't know. When my mother was sober, she was one of the greatest people to be around. And as long as Dad didn't see her other side, was there really any reason to cry over spilled vodka?

I sat at my usual spot on the left of the circular table, next to the large windows that let light shine through during the day. At night though, they kinda freaked me out. Like, anyone could be looking in from the street and see the two blonde woman and a bald man eating food and the Mars family wouldn't even notice.

I shivered at the thought, voiding it from my mind as Sheriff Mars strutted into the dinning room. No, wait. At home, he was just "Dad". He was a simple man, really. Work at work, home at home. Of course, sometimes that rule ended up null and void when I got caught with my 'posse' doing something bad. Like our Homecoming back in October. I hadn't done anything particularly bad. I mean, sure, I'd had a drink or two. But I'm a teenager girl - underage drinking and old reruns of Gossip Girl were how I got by. At least, that's what everyone else thinks.

"Hello family," my father said as he sat in his seat between me and my mother.

"Hey Dad," I said with a smile, part of it genuine this time. This was the best part of my day. Sitting with my parents and talking about what kind of day we'd had. Mom often liked to start, so that I would go last. The way I see it, Mom and Dad liked to remember most what my day had been like. I often had to go into thorough detail, right down to what I'd had to drink that day at lunch.

"Alright, let us dig in," my father said, rubbing his hands together before reaching for the knife to cut off part of the lasagna to call his own. I shook my head, knocking his hand away from the delicious steaming food. "Hey, I've been working really hard all day. Let me eat first."

I shook my head, faking disappointment. "Papa, Papa, ladies - and might I add, cooks- first." I winked at him, to which my mother giggled.

"She's right honey," Mom said, leaning forward to take the knife. She slit into the cheese and pasta, sliding some onto her plate. She then passed the knife to me. "Here Veronica." I smiled, slicing off my little corner and plopping it onto my blue plate. Once everyone had their share of the food, my father and I looked over at my mom.

"Oh, right," she said. "You may begin your meal." It was our thing: once everyone had their food, the cook - usually Mom - would tell us when we could start enjoying the meal. We began our other tradition of telling about our day. "Well we got another order for a wedding dress today." My mother was a tailor, and she got paid a pretty penny for helping top modeling agencies and big ticket actors/actresses adjust their clothing.

My eyes widened. "Isn't that, like, your fourth one in the past three days?" I asked her. It was weird to me, the number of weddings going on in Neptune this year. Usually my mom got just one or two wedding dresses in a month. I guess Las Vegas was having a sale this week or something. Spend five dollars on wedding, get two free.

Mom nodded. "I know. And you'll never guess who it was that came in." I thought for a minute, then shook my head. "You're right, I'll never guess. Why don't you just tell me before we sit here an entire year as I name everyone in Neptune."

My mother leaned forward, as if telling a juicy secret. "Susan Crawford."

Dad began coughing rapidly, reaching for a glass of clear ice water. I beat on his back a little, trying to help. After calming down, he looked at my mother. "Susan Crawford? As in the girl that's been missing for eight months now?" His voice was a mix of astonishment and incredulity.

Mom nodded. "When I asked her about it, she just said she'd run off with her boyfriend who she's now getting married to. Keith, it was so weird to see her there. She looked, I don't know. She just looked...different. Sick, but not really sick if you get my drift."

Dad's eyes were as big as tea cup saucers. "Any chance you know where the wedding is taking place?"

I slapped my father's shoulder. "Work at work, home at home," I reminded him. He sighed, nodding. Don't get me wrong. I wanted to know just as much as my dad did. I could see the gears turning in his head. The same, but younger, gears were turning in my own. But I didn't want him to know I wanted to know.

See, I have a secret. I like to play detective. Don't laugh, I know it's stupid. My dad likes to leave some stuff laying around the house, and I sometimes like to stuff said things into a small box at the back of my closet labeled 'Taylor Lautner Tribute'.

One day, I'd realized that I could actually help people at my school with the resources I had when this guy had come up to me asking if my dad had gotten to the problem he'd brought to my dad weeks earlier.I just took care of the smaller cases that Dad didn't need clouding around him when he was wokring on things like "convicted murders" and "bail jumbers."

Most of the time my cases are fully concluded. I figure out if this person's cheating on that person, if someone's cat was stolen or just ran away, the occasional stolen property, etc. Some things, of course, are left unsolved. I feel bad, but hey, I'm no professional. Besides, the detective stuff is just a fun thing to do in my free-time.

Of course, no one knows it's me. I run a website where people can email an untraceable email their problems and I try my best to help them. During the case, I tend to pull out my camera for some shots. When I've officially solved the case, I write about what had happened and post the article onto the site. It was kind of like my own personal PI agency blog.

I'm never going to tell Mom, or Dad or, Heaven forbid, any of my friends. They'd just laugh at the idea. A 16-year-old girl pretenteding to be a PI? How stupid did that sound?

Now, do people know about my website? That's an easy one. Of course they do. There was an entire article in the school newspaper about the "greatest amateur detective among our hallways" once. Everyone at Neptune knew of the "Marshmallow Detective", which I liked to call myself.

I don't think I'll tell anyone, like, ever. At least, not while I'm in Neptune. Yes, people have tried to find out who I am. Once, these guys made a fake case to try and smoke me out by claiming they'd had their car stolen by some PCHers down at Dog Beach.

Joke was on them; when I'd realized that something was up, they'd been sitting on the sand down at the beach and their car had been stolen anyway. To this day, I'm pretty sure it's still missing. Oh well. I hope whoever is driving it appreciated it as much as I did writing about them on my website.

My dad began to talk about his day. "Not much went on today," he informed us. "Just the usual parking tickets, rejected internships...oh wait a minute. There was one thing." His voice felt kinda heavy in the air. Mom and I looked at him with interest.

"What?" I asked when Dad went quiet.

He coughed. "Sorry," he told us. "I was just trying to figure out how much I can tell you guys. So Veronica, do you know a kid named Eli Navarro?"

Nodding, I said uncertainly, "Yeah. He's in a biker gang. He goes to my school. He's in my grade, I think."

"Right," Keith Mars took another bite of lettuce from his salad. Well, it was more Italian dressing then lettuce, but what can you do? A man eats what a man eats. No questions asked. "So, this kid was up at the school before school today, spray painting the lockers."

I nodded. This hadn't been news to me; I'd seen the lockers today. One of them had been mine. Mine had read, "Fake" on it. I'd spent all of lunch scrubbing it off.

"That was Weevil?" I asked him, unsurprised and agitated. It was like Weevil to do something like that.

Dad nodded. "So that's what they call him?" I nodded. "Okay. Well, Mr. Navarro also spray painted Vice Principle Clemmen's office."

This I hadn't heard about. "Are you serious?" I asked him. My mother wasn't really paying attention anymore. Her attention was being stolen by the phone in her lap. I ignored it, looking at my dad.

"Apparently Eli believes that Clemmens is a, and I quote, 'white rich kid-loving mama's bitch'." My eyebrow's furrowed together. Yeah, it was something Weevil would say, but not nessesarily vandalism material. At least, not of the regular kind.

"You know of any reason's Weevil would do something like that? Like, what would motivate him to spray that particular office. It would have had to have been locked, right? It doesn't sound like the biker I know to go through the trouble of getting keys just to vandalize a simple Vice Principle's office." My words formed a picture in my mind of Weevil with a bottle of spray paint sneaking into the school after hours.

My dad looked at me in surprise. "Since when do you think like a Sheriff?" he asked me.

_Shit. Shit. Shit Shit. Okay Veronica, keep it cool blondie. You can do this. _

"Duh. As much as you try not to bring work home, your work likes to meld with home." I explained.

Sighing, Dad took a sip of water. "Dang it, I thought I was doing better."

I held up my hand, my pointer finger and thumb just a millimeter from each other. "Just a little bit, Dad. Besides, it's in my blood." My mom now seemed to be listening, and a sheepish and worried expression fell upon her face. She got up then, pushing in her chair and picking up her plate.

"Keith, Veronica, do you mind if I excuse myself? I'm feeling a little...unwell." I nodded, my expression filled with concern and suspision.

"Alright Mom. Me and Dad will just continue eating then." She nodded, placing her dishes into the sink before disappearing down the hallway. I turned back to my dad. "So, tell me more about this case." I put my chin on top of my hands, looking at him with wonder.

Dad just shook his head. "No, not tonight honey. Besides, it's your turn to share."

I sighed. "Fine, fine." I thought back to that day's events. "Full account?" I asked him.

"Always."

"Okay. Well, I woke up this morning and..." I told him about my day, to which he seemed completely interested in.

If someone had ever asked me who I loved more: my mom or my dad, I'd tell them to get lost. It's not that I couldn't choose. I knew exactly who I'd choose in a Dad/Mom competition. No, it would be the shame of knowing I loved one parent better than the other that would make me feel shame.

My dad. My dad is my favorite person in the world. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I would even testify it in court if I had to. Yes, I loved my mom. Yes, I loved Lilly. Duncan. Backup (my dog). Hell, even Logan. But at the very top of that short people I truly loved was Keith Mars, Bolboa County Sheriff and household stud.

There is no one else in my life who has ever made me smile as big as I do when I am with him. No one who has ever understood me as much as he does. No one who has ever wanted to listen to me talk about every detail of my day just to hear me talk. My father is my hero; he's my personal Superman.

I smiled as I talked, skipping the part about Duncan coming by earlier and the case I'd completed that morning. Turns out Andrew Dalton had been cheating on Candy Ransom with Tiffany Covers.

"...and then I helped Mom a little with dinner," I finished. He nodded, pushing his plate way from him.

"Well, I'm definitely full of lasagna." Dad patted his stomach, rubbing circles on it like he was a pregnate woman. The comparisson made me smile.

I agreed with him, pushing my own plate away from me. "Oh yeah, I definitely couldn't eat anything else." I stood up, taking both my and his plates. "May I be excused?" Dad nodded, getting up from his own seat.

"I have a case to work on in my office anyway," he mentioned, smiling. He walked up to me and hugged me and kissed my head. "Night honey," he said into my hair. I nodded, hugging back.

"Night daddy," I said. He squeezed me once more before withdrawing himself from our hug. He smiled at me a second, then turned to walk down the hallway.

I watched his retreating figure a moment, then sighed. I had to know what was up with Weevil. I also wanted to know what was up with all the wedding dresses; it was uncommon for this many weddings in Neptune to happen at the same time. Especially when all of them come to see my mother, who's specialties included red carpet and 09er party dresses.

And I'd find out. Want to know why?

Because I'm Veronica Mars, and that's what I was born to do.

**So what do you guys think? I know it's a bit rough but hey, I'm not perfect. Thanks for reading! Tell me what you think, and remember to ReRead and Review. Love, ThePerksOfBlueFood**


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